Now and Forever, S'lichot
The prayers and tunes of S’lichot are meant to crack into our yearnings for all that is good, righteous and holy, and to point us toward our own errors. We’ve put stumbling blocks in front of...
Blog
Counting Down to Rosh Hashanah
For me, living in two civilizations means that they inform one another. When I blow my New Years Eve party horn in the winter, I remember the echoes of the shofar in the fall.
I love a New Year’s...
Embracing The Stranger Within And Without: How We Respond To Disability
It’s essential that we make room for conversation about our personal responses to people with disabilities and how each of us can overcome anxiety or concern and move into friendship and...
New Resources for the High Holidays: Embracing the Stranger
A new collection of resources for the High Holidays focuses on the theme of Embracing the Stranger.
During the Jewish month of Elul, we begin the spiritual journey toward the Yamim Noraim (the...
A Solar Eclipse Deserves a Blessing
Jewish tradition considers an eclipse to be a bad omen. But it should be seen as an occasion for a blessing.
We are on a fantastic journey, over which we have precious little control. As our...
Keeping the Faith: Resilience in the Jewish Tradition
I’m thrilled to introduce Hashivenu, a new podcast that highlights resilience practices embedded in Jewish teaching and Jewish living.
How has the Jewish people survived for millennia? It’s...
A Ritual of Sending Challah to Kids in College
Although I always seem to pick the hottest day of summer, it is a ritual whose heat and aroma wraps me in serenity, like the fine silk of a tallit.
Although I always seem to pick the hottest day...
Design Your Own Ritual with a Little Help from a Ritual Guide
Ritual helps us pay attention. From the joy of a recovery to the grief of a funeral, ritual helps us inhabit the breadth of human experience.
Recently, I led a Sunday morning brunch at Woodstock...
In the Corners of My Home: A Reflection on a Year of Kaddish
The holiday of Tisha B’Av, the 9th of Av, compels us to see boundaries differently—instead of separating out personal loss from communal loss ... we compact grief into one uniting experience
As...
Jumu’ah Mubaarakah and Shabbat Shalom
There’s a test on everything here these days. Patience. Forgiveness. Understanding.
“Shabbat Shalom (שבת שלום),” Mohammad said to me on Thursday after Ulpan, our intense Hebrew-language class.
“...